An Unusual Meeting
by fictionater
Summary: A midsummer thunderstorm, a cafe, and two people with some last minute business to attend to.


A.N/ this is just an idea that popped into my head when going through quotes on the HP lexicon. And by the way I haven't got a beta yet so I apologize in advance for any grammar mistakes I've missed.

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It was early evening in July and a mid-summer thunderstorm was underway. Clouds hung ominously low, occasionally a flash lit in the distance followed by a clap of thunder, though no rain fell.

Most people had holed up in their homes and the few people still on the streets moved quickly with destinations firm in their minds.

However, one young pedestrian didn't seem to be in any hurry to seek shelter from the inevitable downpour. He shuffled down the road, a skinny, unimpressive teenager with his shoulders slumped and his hands shoved into the pockets of his overly large jeans. A rumbling bang sounded almost directly overhead but the lone pedestrian's only reaction was to shove his hands deeper into those mammoth pockets.

In fact, it wasn't until the first shower of rain began a tattoo on the pavement that the boy reached his destination, an out of the way café known among the locals for its strong tea and clean tables. The boy paused at the entrance resting his head against the double doors for a moment before pushing them open.

Inside, the café was bright and welcoming though rather empty, the only people there were two women, one a bored looking girl behind the counter and the other a middle aged customer. The customer had looked up when boy came though the doors and she smiled welcomingly when the boy's eyes landed on her as he glanced around the room.

Once in the booth, the boy stared out the window while the woman smiled fondly at him. For a moment, it looked as if she would reach across the table to hug him but instead she ruffled his hair affectionately. "Hello Harry." She said.

"Jo." The boy called Harry replied. It was an odd pair the two made, Jo well dressed and middle aged, and Harry with his sullen teenage looks that belied something deeper, whose messy hair and clothes were still damp from the rain.

"Why don't you order something to eat? You could do with a decent meal Harry." The woman said while pushing a menu at her companion. Harry's mouth twitched in a grimace that almost became a wry grin.

"Are you mollycoddling me?" Jo returned the grin but fixed him with a stern look nonetheless.

"Fine," the boy muttered, "I'll have a roast beef sandwich please." Jo ordered their food and once it came the two descended into a silence that was only broken by the sounds of the storm that raged outside.

The plates had long been cleared and the pair's bellies filled before anything else was said.

"You're wondering why I asked you to meet me." Said the woman in a way that wasn't exactly a statement but wasn't a question either. As Harry turned away from the window to face her he raised an eyebrow sarcastically.

"Well the thought did cross my mind." Jo ignored him and began to speak again.

"Harry, your world is going to change soon, to change drastically and I may not get a chance to talk to you like this for what will seem like a long time. I brought you here so I could apologize."

In Jo's pocket there was an old retractable pen; she pulled it out, twirled it in her fingers. "Maybe if your parents hadn't died things would've happened differently and your life would be happier than it is now or maybe you would have been even worse off. I don't know. However, this world is how it is and neither of us can change that right now."

She had opened her mouth to go on when lightning flashed nearby giving the pair's faces an instant of eerie light. Immediately afterwards a table rattling BOOM sounded overhead. The café lights flickered but didn't go out.

When it was over Jo put the pen back in her pocket and said, "Terrible times are coming and, Harry, people will die." Harry interrupted her.

"People already have died." This time it was Jo who was silent, though not for long.

"I know. That's why I wanted to say that I'm sorry." Outside the lightning and thunder seemed to be getting farther away though the rain did not let up. Harry was looking at her curiously now, perhaps wondering if she had anything else to say. She did.

"There's just one more thing I've got to tell you and then I'll let you." She said. "You are going to get extremely tired of hearing this, but you are not alone. You've got wonderful friends that will stick by you no matter what happens. So don't forget that." Harry smiled then, a small unforced kind of smile.

"I doubt that anyone will let me." He stood to leave. "I've got to get back to the Dursleys. People are probably wondering where I am." This time Jo did reach out to hug the scruffy teenager in front of her. Once she had let go of him Harry moved to walk out of the café but something stopped him halfway there.

"What will…will he…?" Harry couldn't seem to get the words out.

"It will all work out in the end." Jo answered her voice kind. Harry's shoulders were slumped, his face weary. He nodded and pushed out the glass doors into the dark, gray rain. By the time Harry could no longer be seen Jo, too, had disappeared.

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_I think I'd most like to spend a day with Harry. I'd take him out for a meal and apologise for everything I've put him through._ J.K. Rowling, World Book Chat


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